Archived Insolence: The Archive site for Respectful Insolence

Who (or what) is Orac?

About Me

Location: The Liberator, somewhere deep in Federation space, United States

Orac is but a humble pseudonymous surgeon/scientist with an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his miscellaneous verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few will. That Orac has chosen his pseudonym based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights from an old British SF show whose special effects were renowned for their early 1980's BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction for television ever produced, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.) Orac tries to keep his insolence respectful, but admittedly sometimes fails in the cases of obvious quackery and pseudoscience, attacks on him, very poor critical thinking skills, bigotry, and just general plain stupidity.

What is Respectful Insolence?

Respectful Insolence is a repository for the ramblings of the aforementioned pseudonymous surgeon/scientist concerning medicine and quackery, science and pseudoscience, history and pseudohistory, politics, and anything else that interests him (or pushes his buttons). Orac's motto: "A statement of fact cannot be insolent." (OK, maybe it can be just a little bit insolent.)

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Insolent Disclaimer

This is a personal web log, reflecting the sometimes prickly opinions of its author. Statements on this blog do not represent the opinions of anyone other than the author. They most definitely do not represent the opinions or position of the author's hospital, university, surgical practice, or partners. The information on this blog is intended for discussion and entertainment purposes only and not as recommendations on how to diagnose or treat illnesses. Any personal medical issues the reader may have should be referred to the reader's physician. If the reader freely chooses to follow the opinion of a pseudonymous blogger like the author (who has also not done a proper history or physical examination and whose credentials cannot be verified) over that of his or her own personal physician, it is the reader's decision alone, for which the reader must bear full responsibility.

E-mail policy: All e-mail replies to Orac in response to material posted to this blog are subject to being publicly reprinted on Respectful Insolence solely at the discretion of Orac. Requests not to publicly reprint an e-mail will certainly be considered on a case-by-case basis, but Orac offers no guarantee that he will honor them (especially if the e-mail in question is obnoxious, threatening, or insulting).

Sunday, July 03, 2005

I wanna rock

I haven't done one of these silly web quizs in a while for the simple reason that I thought I had exhausted most of the interesting ones. Then, via Ahistoricality, I find this one. Like him, I was a bit skeptical at first. There's no mention of the Beatles, for instance, nor are there quite a few other important bands. In my case, I wondered where the hell was The Clash? (Although I suppose Rancid could stand in, given how much early Clash wannabes they are, which is probably why I like them.) Bob Dylan? The Who? Jethro Tull?

Oddly enough, though, it came out pretty close to my musical tastes, with one exception. Punk is not a "medium" influence on me! It should be at least "high," if not "highest"! How could I get that, while choosing The Ramones, Rancid, The Sex Pistols, and others? How could I get that when I noticed the glaring omission of The Clash (a.k.a. The Only Band That Matters) on the quiz? I'm guessing it's because I'm not a big fan of some of the bands they probably considered "punk" (Third Eye Blind, The Hives, etc.--the Hives are OK, but nothing fantastic, and Third Eye Blind just plain sucks).

5 example(s) of insolence returned:

What a culturally limited list that is though... No Ali Farkha Toure, no Salif Keita, no Orchestra Baobab, no Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, no Daara J... not even a single token 'world music' star sauch as the Buena Vista Social Club.

Orac, did you check Blink-182, Green Day, or Social Distortion? You can question the punkness of Blink and Green Day, but Social D are just about as a punk as Rancid. Also, Green Day came out of the same East Bay scene as Rancid (or better yet, Operation Ivy), so if you include Rancid as punk (which is hard not to do) it's difficult to exclude Green Day even though they've gone much more mainstream than their Gilman Street brethren.

Punk is a really hard thing to define as it's not entirely about musical style. Image, attitude, exposure, and politics really play into it. Most of the Clash albums, if released today, would not be considered punk albums (aside from maybe their debut) because they don't revolve around the three chord, under 3 minute formula that the Ramones personified and has become the punk blueprint. Their posturing and attitute (as well as their political message), however, are definitely punk.

Also, Rancid are only clash wannabes in their attitude, politics, and ska/reggae influences. Rancid employ much complex bass lines and their california roots show up with surf-rock inspired cali-punk guitar riffs.

Oh, and the Hives are more euro-garage rock than punk, and Third Eye Blind are 90's alternative or alternative (definitely not punk).

My biggest problem with this one is that it's incredibly US-centric. I'm in Australia - but I couldn't find mentions of even popular Aussie bands like INXS or Cold Chisel. There also wasn't that much UK content either, which meant I wasn't able to choose stuff I even *knew*.